1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates, in general, to animal feeder apparatus and, more specifically, to animal feeder apparatus for automatically feed to a plurality of animal cages.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the poultry industry, maximum egg production is achieved by constructing animal cages in a multi-tier arrangement in which a plurality of cages are arranged side-by-side in a horizontal alignment, with tiers of cages stacked above each other, two, three or four high. Such an arrangement increases the efficiency of space utilization within a building.
In such a tiered cage arrangement, the eggs are automatically collected on a conveyor belt and carried to a collection station. Manure or droppings from the animals are collected on a second conveyor belt located beneath each row of cages and removed from the cage area where the belt is scraped and cleaned.
A feed carriage moves horizontally along the front of the rows of cages and dispenses feed into a feed trough mounted at the front edge of each row of cages. The feed carriage is activated at preset time intervals throughout the day to dispense the feed in predetermined measured amounts. Further, the rate at which the feed is dispensed as the carriage traverses along the animal cages may be varied to provide a desired dietary program for the animals.
Even though the feed rate is variable, once a selected rate is chosen it remains constant from each pass of the feeder along the row of cages. This has created problems since the number of animals in each cage may vary and, in some instances, certain cages in a particular row may be entirely empty. Thus, a feed rate selected to provide a desired amount of feed for the normal number of animals in each cage would result in a build up of feed in front of those cages containing fewer or no animals. Such excess amounts of feed eventually overflow the sides of the feed trough and fall onto the floor or onto the waste removal conveyor belt. In either case, feed is wasted which results in increased feed costs for the egg laying operation.
In addition, an excessive amount of feed in front of certain cages will cause the animals to eat the feed in amounts in excess of that desired, thereby defeating the controlled dietary program essential to quality egg production.
Thus, it would be desirable to provide an animal feeder for a multi-tier arrangement of animal cages which overcomes the problems of similar prior art animal feeders. It would also be desirable to provide an animal feeder which automatically controls the dispensing of feed to the animal cages in relation to the amount of feed remaining in the feed trough in front of the animal cages. Finally, it would be desirable to provide an animal feeder which is operative to maintain a predetermined level of feed in the feed trough of the animal cages.